Reviewer Wally Wood:
Wally is a a professional writer and a member of the American Society
of Journalists and Authors. He holds a master's degree in creative
writing from the City University of New York as well as a bachelor's
degree from Columbia University where he majored in philosophy. As a
volunteer, he has taught writing in men's state prisons and to
middle-school students in his local library.

His first novel, Getting
Oriented: A Novel About Japan received positive reviews even from
people who do not know him. As a ghost-writer, he has written 19
business books, all published by commercial publishers. He has
recently published The Girl in the Photo which
is currently available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble as a trade
paperback or Kindle download.

By Wally Wood

Published on December 25, 2016

Author: Lori Tsugawa
Whaley

Publisdher: Aviva
Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-938686-82-5

Author: Lori Tsugawa
Whaley

Publisdher: Aviva
Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-938686-82-5

Lori Tsugawa Whaley is
proud of her Japanese heritage and believes others can learn valuable
lessons from it, which is why she has titled her book The Courage of
a Samurai: Seven Sword-Sharp Principles for Success.

According to her bio,
Whaley "is a third-generation Japanese American and a descendant
of the samurai. As a baby boomer, she grew up in a predominately
Caucasian logging and farming community in rural southwest Washington
state. Lori's character and work ethic were formed by working hard
alongside her parents on the family farm. She struggled with being
different, especially during the school years." She is now on a
"mission to inspire individuals to apply the code of bushido
(the way of the warrior) to tap into their sole purpose in life."

Her seven principles are
courage, integrity, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor, and
loyalty. And for good measure she adds an eighth: ganbaru, the verb
that my dictionary defines as "be tenacious; be persistent; keep
at it; do not give up easily; give all one has got; hold out; stick
to it; be full of energy; insist that; stick to; keep
saying/repeating; continue to claim . . ." But you get the idea.
It's a word you hear a lot in Japan.

Whaley describes each
principle and illustrates its application through Japanese-related
examples. Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese counsel in Kaunas, Lithuania,
signed thousands of transit visas in 1940 for mainly Jewish refugees
to escape the Germans, violating orders of his own Foreign
Ministry—demonstrating courage.

Michi Nishiura Weglyn
researched and wrote a book about the American government's shameful
incarceration of Japanese-Americans at the beginning of
WWII—integrity.

Dr. James K. Okubo won a
Silver Star as a medic in all-nisei (second-generation
Japanese-American) 442nd Regimental Combat Team—benevolence.

The Military Intelligence
Service, the Japanese-language interpreters, translators, radio
announcers, and propaganda writers during the Pacific war illustrate
integrity in some way. The way people acted after the 2011 Tohoku
earthquake and tsunami illustrates honesty. Saigo Takamori, the
Kyushu samurai who led a rebellion against the new Meiji government
in 1876, illustrates honor.

If you know nothing about
Japanese history or culture and nothing whatever about the
Japanese-American internment or the 442nd, The Courage of a Samurai
is an introduction. I'm not sure how useful it is as a way to lead
readers "on a path to personal and business fulfillment" as
one reader claims. Be courageous she urges! Have integrity! Be
benevolent! Show respect! Be honest, honorable, and loyal!

Well, yes. Who would argue
otherwise? But how exactly do you cultivate these principles in
yourself?

Moreover, what do you do
when one principle appears to contradict another? Sugihara was
not loyal to his government by signing visas (and I suspect his
Christianity had more to do with his actions than bushido, a faith
Whaley does not mention). Takamori did not respect the new Meiji
government and raised an army. An overweening sense of honor can lead
to disloyaltiy.

Also, Whaley, by reducing
the samurai code to seven (or eight) principles, oversimplifies
Japanese culture. She never mentions tatemae or honne, both important
in Japanese life. The first is what one professes, or says in public;
your official position, public stance. The second is one's true
feelings; what one is really thinking or underlying motive. I would
like to have seen a discussion of how one justifies or reconciles a
contradiction between the two.

There is nothing wrong
with The Courage of a Samurai and Lori Tsugawa Whaley is right
to be proud of her heritage. I am sorry only that her book does not
meet her own goal of inspiring and empowering the reader.